To start an online pharmacy in the UK the first question you need to ask yourself is whether you would like to be NHS commissioned or not. If not, all you need to do is go through the application process with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) to establish a private pharmacy. A private pharmacy is one that cannot accept green NHS FP10 prescriptions which are subsidised by the government. A private GPhC “Distance Selling Pharmacy” can only dispense for legally valid private prescriptions.
New private pharmacies in the UK often find it difficult to establish a foothold in the dispensing market as initially they lack doctors prescriptions by which they can dispense and dispatch from. Some private pharmacy look to register with the NHS via the Market Entry Team, get a NHS dispensing license and then can bill the government for medicines that they dispense from a standard NHS Prescription.
The process of applying for an NHS license is very straightforward:
- Fist you need to navigate your browser to the Pharmacy Market Management Services controlled under the jurisdiction of the PSCE.
- Next click the button “Register for the online Market Entry service” this will bring you to your default email client and give you a pre populated email like so:
3. Once this has been filled and sent it will take a couple fo days for the PSCE team to get back to you.
4. Once they do login to the PSCE site and this should be the first thing you see…
5. Either click New application or Edit one you have already made and then select the following options.
6. Click next and you will be asked about the details of the proposed pharmacy location, the most important part here is the question about Regulation 31. This is referring to whether you understand that it is a national service you should offer. Default text is written below…
7. The next page details out the opening hours that you intend to be open for. In general pharmacies are open for 40 hours a week.
8. The next part of this is a little tricky if you do not know much about pharmacy services. The form asks you about which services you would like to provide, whether they be enhanced, essential or advanced. You need to make sure that you meet the NHS Pharmacy contract essential requirements, we have detailed out a sample for you below, however if you need further help with this please get in contact with one of our consultants.
